A 2011 inquiry from one of the world’s richest businessmen, Carlos Slim Helû, led to Ted Gurneé’s latest venture, OxyHeal Tunneling Group, Inc.  One of Sr. Slim’s companies, Carso Infraestructura y Construccion S. A de C.V., was contracted to drill three of the six nine (9) meter diameter tunnels for the 62 km long Emisor Oriente Wastewater Tunnel project under Mexico City.  The geology of the project requires operators of the Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) to change cutting tools between sections of soft ground and basalt rock.  Earth Balance Pressure (EPB) TBMs developed by The Robbins Company had to be modified for the high water pressures of this area.  Read more…

Robert Conachey, Class of 1980, has been working on special projects, some unrelated to his Webb education, for most of his career, and he enjoys every minute of it.  He attributes his success in working on these disparate activities to his natural curiosity along with a broad, well-rounded education at Webb. Read more…

When asked what I do for a living, I say, “I help companies design and build ships.”  When asked what profession I am in, I answer, “I’m an engineer.”  I realize that these are very broad statements, but they both go back to my roots as a Webb Institute of Naval Architecture and engineering graduate.  Read more…

Keith R. Mullins, P.E., was named a stockholder of Gannett Fleming. Based in the firm’s Philadelphia, Pa., office, Mullins serves as senior Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) manager in the firm’s Transportation Operations Practice.

With more than 14 years of experience, Mullins coordinates ITS planning, design, and construction support services. He is knowledgeable in the areas of ITS standards development, traffic and highway safety, and technical outreach and training. He manages all aspects of the ITS project delivery process and has led ITS design-build projects throughout the Northeast. Read more…

Looking back at the years since I graduated from Webb, it’s hard to believe just how far I’ve gone, and also funny to think that I’ve ended up in almost the same place where my journey began.

I grew up a New Yorker, having been born in Manhattan, lived in Queens, gone to high school in the Bronx, and spent every possible moment on my family’s boat in Brooklyn. My apologies to fans of Staten Island, but I figure four out of five boroughs isn’t too bad. At the time boating was my life, and cruising the waters off New York and SCUBA diving on the shipwrecks beneath them, I always knew that I would be involved with ships and the sea. Webb was just the place to help me turn my passion into my career, and, despite what at times seemed like four long and hard years, not only was the experience worth it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Read more…